Long Words, Excellent Words (I can hear them now)

[anarchist_nomad]

Gentle readers,

More than one of you has recently hinted[*] that I need to give y'all more of an opportunity to win those points that maybe redeemable for fabulous prizes!

As I am a benevolent Nomad, I am happy to comply with this request. This morning, as I was cycling to work, I found myself musing on monosyllabic[**] words. Tomorrow, I will be working at Queen Mary University with RT. I noted that "queen" has five letters but is only one syllable... whilst "Mary" is one letter shorter yet one syllable longer.

Thus, I pose the question to you, my dear friends: What is the longest monosyllabic word that you can think of? Two hundred points will be awarded to the person who can come up with the longest such word![***]

Whilst on the topic of points, I should congratulate theentwife! She scored the most votes in the poll to determine who had come up with the funniest title to this entry. Congratulations -- your two hundred points are winging their way to you right now!

Meanwhile, the game is on to find the longest monosyllabic word! Godspeed and good luck!

---

[*] Or stated explicitly!

[**] It always amuses me that "monosyllabic" isn't.

[***] The Fine Print: Words must be in standard English, which shall be defined by the Oxford English Dictionary. On the hono(u)r system, contestants are trusted to come up with words on their own without the aid of Internet tools (such as a search engine).

Comments

[bunnypip.livejournal.com]

probably something like "strength" (8 letters, plenty of composit sounds)

[maellenkleth]

crikey, great minds think alike, ^_^

[mattp.livejournal.com]

I originally though of the variant "strengths" but I'm neither the first with this word stem nor a 9 letter contender.

[maellenkleth]

In that case, "strength"

[bunnypip.livejournal.com]

scratched? that's 9

[anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com]

Damn, you're good! *grin*

At the moment, you are both in the lead and tied for runner-up!

Colour me impressed, Sweetheart, that you could think of two excellent examples so quickly!

[dcseain.livejournal.com]

I vote for:

1. strengthed
2. schmaltzed

[anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, ten letter words here!

You may be in the lead, my friend, if those words check out. However, I am on a bus right now and -- as such -- without access to the OED. Will confirm later.

[darkfloweruk.livejournal.com]

How about...

Aaaarggrhhh!!!!

Eleven letters, one silly-bull.

[anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com]

*giggles*

Right! You might not get confirmed by Mr. OED on this one... but you've won a great big hug and a cuddle -- payable on Saturday! That was quite a brilliant entry!

[jadesfire55.livejournal.com]

*giggle* All I could come up with was "yacht", but I love seeing what others have dredged up.

Nevermind - dredged! Not long enough to win, but I thought of it literally as I typed, so I'm happy. :)

[anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com]

I think it's awesome that you came up with a better entry in the process of typing your submission! Rock on!

Glad to see that this made you happy! If I've added a smile to what must be a difficult day for you, then part of my mission is accomplished!

[thehalibutkid.livejournal.com]

Miles.

Only 5 letters but very long.

[anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com]

*chuckles*

Well done! You may not actually win with that entry... but have fifty points just for making me laugh!

[simple-epiphany.livejournal.com]

I have 'strengths' at nine. I was trying to think of Gaelic loanwords: they're usually good for lots of silent or quasisilent letters.

[anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com]

Indeed, as the first to put forth "strengths", you are currently tied for the lead. There maybe two hundred points coming your way soon... We shall see!

[imandunewen.livejournal.com]

screeched?

[anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com]

And another nine letter word! Congratulations, and welcome to a three-way tie for first place!

[bammba-m.livejournal.com]

Scrunched?

I'm trying to come up with a convincing argument as to why "monosyllabic" should also count towards this contest. But words are failing me.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

Not really long enough to compete, but...
strummed.

[maellenkleth]

I'm thinking 'squirrelled', but that may be two syllables in Received Pronunciation. It's certainly one syllable out here in Cascadia. Anyone have an OED handy?

[anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid that the OED lists "squirrel" as a bi-syllabic word, thus knocking it out of the running. Nice try, though! You have had quite a number of good entries!

[maellenkleth]

Oh, 'haunched' and 'launched' are clearly out of the running now, but what about 'scraunched'?

[bunnypip.livejournal.com]

oooh! you may well have something there. I _like_ that one :-D

[squeektoy42.livejournal.com]

I was thinking squirrelled as well...but I see that I was not the first to suggest it. Hmmmm...

*With all the nuts and the squirrells!! hehehehehe...*

;-)

[anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com]

*grin* Always love feeding the squirrels with you, my dear!

[ijsos.livejournal.com]

"straights" is nine. "schmaltzed" is ten but I'm not sure if it's echt...In French it's Schtroumpfs (11) which means "smurfs", unless "to smurf" is a verb in which case I guess it would be "ils schtroumpfent" which has 13 *looks hopeful*

[ijsos.livejournal.com]

(I should add that I'm counting on smurfs being a modern concept and therefore the word schtroumptent being pronounced without the mute [ə]...)

[bunnypip.livejournal.com]

has to be English! (*eyeroll* bloody linguists!!)

I'm still maintaining that I don't think schmaltzed is a word, but I could well be wrong. Straights could work for a 9 if straight is a noun (ie a heterosexual person)

I have a feeling that maellenkleth has it with scraunched, but that's just a hunch.

BTW: hi hon! hope the Opera's going well *intercontinental hugs*

[unclevlad.livejournal.com]

I believe the alternatives of streitched and streightes are both still in the OED, but since they do not appear in any common vernacular...

[anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com]

You are correct. "Streitched," for example, is listed as a Scottish variant of "stretched." Well done!